How this works: this page reads the file's own bytes directly — the TIFF/EXIF structure embedded in a JPEG's APP1 segment, a PNG's eXIf chunk, a WebP's EXIF RIFF chunk, or a HEIC/HEIF/AVIF file's meta/iinf/iloc box chain — using the File API. Nothing is uploaded anywhere.
Format detection is based on the file's actual content, not its extension. That's what powers the mismatch warning above: some cameras and apps save an already-JPEG photo with a .HEIC extension (or the reverse), and relying on the extension alone would miss that.
Scope: this covers EXIF/TIFF metadata (the camera settings, GPS, and dates most photos carry) plus PNG text chunks. It doesn't decode IPTC or XMP metadata, MakerNote fields (camera-specific binary blocks), or video metadata.
Troubleshooting
It says my .heic file is actually a JPEG (or the reverse)
Some cameras and apps label an already-JPEG photo with a .HEIC extension, and less commonly the other way around. This page detects the real format from the file's own bytes rather than trusting the extension, which is exactly the case the HEIC to JPG converter's troubleshooting section points here for. Rename the file to match what it actually is, or feed it to the format-appropriate tool.
No GPS location shows up, but I know the photo was geotagged
Many phones strip GPS data when a photo is shared through a messaging app or social network, and some camera apps have location tagging turned off by default. If the photo was exported, downloaded, or forwarded rather than opened straight from the camera's original file, check for GPS tags on that original instead.
The file has metadata in [some other program], but this page shows none
This page reads EXIF/TIFF metadata (camera, exposure, GPS, dates) and PNG text chunks. If the other program is showing IPTC fields (captions, keywords, credit lines) or XMP data (common from Adobe software), those live in a different metadata block this page doesn't parse yet.
Which formats carry EXIF data, and which don't?
JPEG, TIFF, PNG (via its eXIf chunk), WebP (via its EXIF chunk), and HEIC/HEIF/AVIF can all carry EXIF metadata, though not every file actually has any. GIF and BMP have no provision for EXIF at all — this page will still detect and show their dimensions, but there's no camera or GPS data to find.
Prefer the command line?
ExifTool is the standard cross-platform command-line tool for this — it reads far more metadata formats (EXIF, IPTC, XMP, MakerNotes, and hundreds of file types) than this page does. To strip all metadata instead of viewing it: exiftool -all= photo.jpg.